A pair of Charles II sterling silver chinoiserie toilet caskets, London 1683 by Ralph Leake (free 1671)

Of elongated octagonal form with a hinged lid with moulded rim and ovolo edge to a gently domed section. Each raised upon four sand cast twin scroll feet, with trifurcated scroll and baluster junctions. Each casket with flat chased chinoiserie decoration, one casket with an elegant figure beneath a canopy suspended with tassels held by two attendants, approaching a guardsman holding a guandao polearm, standing beneath a portico with dragon capitals, a flagstaff suspended from it with pseudo Chinese characters, in the foreground an urn with flowers. The edge with textured stylised forms , some resembling bats. The other casket with a battle scene of tow figures on horseback, each brandishing a dao sword, a third horse rearing regardant to the righthand side, a fallen warrior at the base. All reserved with architectural ruins and collapsed columns, one to the left carved with a figure holding a fan, a burning house in the background. The edge the same. The sides of the caskets each flat chased with fancy birds amidst stylised foliage. Fully marked to the base interior and the lid interior. (2)

Length – 25.5 cm / 10 inches

Width – 19.4 cm / 7.4 inches

Weight – 2167 grams / 69.67 ozt

Formally stuck with a later metal plate etched with “Certified by the Victoria and Albert Museum August 1961 Charles II 1665-1670 Maker Att to R. Leek [sic Leake]”.

Remains of trade wrappings for Arthur A. Berman Ltd, 18 Martin’s Street Leicester Square, London

Private English Collection

A full dressing table set by Leake of 1683, with elements of the same form is illustrated Clayton. M. (1971), The Collector's Dictionary of the Silver and Gold of Great Britain and North America, p. 74-75, fig. 2. (sold Christie's London 26 March 1975 £17,500)

Dressing table sets are among the most frequently surviving elements of late 17^th century silverware, often highly embossed or as here, flat chased with chinoiserie, termed “Japann’d” at the time. Normally the gift of a groom to a new bride then likely passed from mother to daughter, these sets headed by a mirror and any number of caskets, pomatum pots, brushes, pincushions, and ecuelles, feature prominently in the history of silverware, such as the Calverley toilet service of 1683 by William Fowle (Victoria and Albert museum 240-1879). A contemporary account for such as service, is as follows “Recd. A comb box 2 powder 2 patch 2 Jessemy Boxes 2 candlesticks a Pincoshen 2 brushes as glass frame & Toppiece” Mitchell D. (1993), Dressing plate by the ‘unknown’ London silversmith ‘WF’, The Burlington Magazine, June 1993, p. 386. Evidently these larger caskets would be the comb boxes, for housing the large precious tortoiseshell combs so often made in Jamaica, a relatively recent British colony by the 1680’s having entered British possession in 1655. For an excellent example incised ‘Jamaica 1673’ probably by the Port Royal maker Paul Bennett (V&A 524 to B-1877), which at a dimensions of 7.625 x 4.875 inches would comfortably fit in such a casket as these.

Chinoiserie flat chased London silver chiefly found in the 1680’s is a particularly famous form of decoration and continues to be subject to further research. Several London maker’s marks are found on such plate with various levels of complexity to the decoration, leading to speculation did one workshop specialise in this work or was it all performed within the workshops as ascribed to the marks, the first seeming unlikely. The scene on these caskets ranks among the more interesting format of this decoration, involving well delineated figures engaging with one another, animals, architectural elements, and an all-important oriental element through the canopy.

While one source for the foliage is drawn upon Johan Nieuhoff’s An Embassy to the Grand Tartar Cham, Emperor of China (Amsterdam 1658, republished in London by John Ogilby in 1669). The possible sources of these more complex scenes represents a melange of late 17^th century decorative arts and trades, both imported and home produced, together they testify to a fantasy for the foreign that layered upon one another to form such a captivating zeitgeist. Upon discussing the potential for theatre to have been one such source of inspiration when describing the two mirror frames as part of the Oritz-Patino collection, Phillipa Glanville notes “the layout of motifs on the larger and more sophisticated objects, such as the Bodendick and Smithier mirror frames and the salvers, has the formality and the artificiality of an opera, masque or play staging. On the Smithier mirror (Victoria and Albert Museum), a Chinese temple at the rear is flanked by walls set with statues. Centre stage, a bird fountain spouts high in the air and tall ruined arches separate four gesticulating figures in Eastern costume. Are these derived from a lost series of theatre designs?”. ( Glanville, P., (1992), English 17^th Century Chinoiserie Silver, Sotheby’s New York The Jamie Oritz-Patino Collection May 21 1992). The scene on these caskets certainly lends itself to these tempting thoughts of theatrical fanfare.